Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York has called on the Obama administration "to squeeze leading coffee-producing countries such as Vietnam and Brazil into not stockpiling supplies and jacking up prices even more," The New York Daily News reported.

"'Stockpiling by the two largest producer countries would have adverse economic consequences for importing countries, as well as for consumers around the world,'" Schumer wrote in a letter Monday to U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk.

Here's the International Coffee Organization's chart of coffee prices going back to 1998. In July and August, it was at $1.53 and $1.57, higher than it's ever been.

Coffee prices are spiking because of a coffee shortage that has been percolating for years. Crops are down in many producing countries, and increasing demand is chewing through existing stockpiles.